Paris in the Present Tense: A Novel

Paris in the Present Tense is set in contemporary Paris, a city experiencing violent unrest alongside its historical splendors. Jules Lacour, a seventy-four-year-old professor at Paris-Sorbonne, cellist, widower, and Holocaust survivor who fought in the Algerian War, struggles to balance his obligations to the past with the attractions of present life and love. During what should be a fulfilling period—marked by music, family, and rowing on the Seine—Jules faces multiple crises that threaten his principles, livelihood, and home. He considers committing fraud to help his terminally ill infant grandson, confronts a determined insurance investigator, becomes involved in an act of violence, and develops a romantic relationship with a young cellist much younger than himself. Set against the backdrop of Paris and its influence on human experience, the novel follows Jules as he navigates these challenges and seeks a way forward. The narrative examines a life through the perspectives of art and memory.